1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for engaging and loosening the beginning of a sheet of material, such as paper, fabric, thin plastic, and/or metal foil, that is wound onto a core to form a reel, so that the material can be used in a subsequent machine, such as a packaging machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to be able to process thin sheets of material, such as of a plactic, metal foil, paper, and fabric, on machines, these materials are wound onto a core to form so-called reels. The end of the wound-up sheet of material, after having been cutoff, is secured to the periphery of the reel for transport purposes. In particular, this securing is effected either by folding the end over and sticking it directly to the layer disposed thereunder, or by sticking it with the aid of an easily detachable self-sticking strip. Such reels are manually, and possibly with the aid of a lifting device, placed upon an unwinding mechanism of a machine for further use, for example with packaging machines in the cigarette industry. After the reels are aligned, the beginning of the reel is loosened by hand from its secured transport position, is pulled off, is cut to size to prepare it for introduction into a machine, and is subsequently threaded into a respective withdrawal device.
In modern high efficiency machines, for example cigarette packaging machines, the operators are burdened by having to frequently change the reels, which become increasingly heavier. Even known auxilary devices for lifting and placing the reels are not in a position to significantly reduce the overall effort up to the point of introducing the beginning of the sheet of material into the machine, since, as previously, the reels must be opened and prepared by hand. For this reason, such auxiliary devices are not economical, and have therefore not gained acceptance in practice.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for engaging and loosening the beginning of a sheet of material that is wound onto a core to form a reel, so that the material can be used in a subsequent machine, with the inventive apparatus preparing preferably automatically delivered reels, without manual activity, so that they are ready to be further used by such machines.